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xAd Launches MarketPlace Self-service Location-targeting Solution

Location platform xAd has launched its MarketPlace location-targeting solution in limited beta. The company describes it as “the first and only transparent, self-serve marketing platform for real-time, location-based campaign planning, buying and reporting.” It covers 100m unique points of interest (geo-coded blueprint boundaries) around the world.

While xAd’s business has always been built on data, MarketPlace makes it available to media planners and buyers via a self-service dashboard for the first time. It enables them to ‘buy’ physical locations in the same way they currently buy search keywords. For example, a brand might want to target consumers who have visited a particular football ground in the last two weeks, or a fast-food chain might want to target consumers who have been in their, or their competitors’ outlets, in the past month, either when they are close to one of those outlets. or at some other time. xAd’s location targeting capabilities are integrated within around 70,000 apps.

“We see location as a strategic imperative for advertisers,” said xAd head of EMEA, Theo Theodorou. “If you know the places a person visits, you can build a profile of their interests. It’s like the desktop cookie for mobile.”

Alex Newman, head of mobile at OMD UK, said the launch of MarketPlace is a sign of the industry growing up. “With this release, xAd is showing that it’s willing to monetise based on the data it offers and that’s attractive to us, because we can take their location data and add our own data to make the ads we serve more relevant and targeted,” said Newman. “If I really want to reach someone who has been to Old Trafford three times in the last month and I know they are likely to spend £100 more than someone who’s only been there once on the last month, then I can control the price I’m willing to bid for that impression individually. It gives me much more intelligence in terms of how I spend my clients’ ad budgets.”

And Jack Foley, digital brand manager at KFC, which has trialled the platform, said: “Through our ongoing partnership with [media agency] Blue449 and xAd, we’ve been able to leverage the most accurate location data to reach our target demographics in the most critical moments of intent. The continued growth of mobile will only increase the importance of location data and our need to leverage it in the most strategic way possible. MarketPlace has the potential to help us do this through providing a more granular view into real-time consumer behaviour, then allowing us to act on that behaviour within one platform.”